Paternal Depression in the Child's First Year of Life and Subsequent Father-Child Co-Residence

To investigate associations between fathers' postpartum depression and whether their children lived with them at 3 subsequent time points.

We conducted a secondary analysis of a national US cohort of mostly nonmarital births. Paternal depression was assessed when the child was age 1 and fathers' co-residence was assessed when their children were ages 3, 5, and 9. We estimated unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models of associations between paternal depression in the postpartum year and father's subsequent co-residence with the child.

Among 1691 new fathers, 8% screened positive for depression when the child was age 1. Thirty-five percent of the parents were married, and 77% lived together (married or cohabiting) when the child was born. Over half (55%) of births were financed by Medicaid. In adjusted models, paternal depression was negatively associated with the father's co-residence with the child most or all of the time when they were 3, 5, and 9 years old, with AORs of 0.47 (CI 0.30-0.72), 0.38 (CI 0.25-0.58), and 0.30 (CI 0.19-0.46), respectively, and with the father's co-residence with the child at least some of the time, with AORs of 0.51 (CI 0.30-0.87), 0.49 (CI 0.31-0.80), and 0.47 (CI 0.30-0.73), respectively.

This study found a strong negative association between paternal postpartum depression and subsequent co-residence with the child. This finding supports further investigation into potential mechanisms linking paternal depression, father involvement, and children's development, and underscores the importance of screening for paternal depression as part of routine pediatric care.